Oatmeal Cake with Apples n Honey

Hello my fellow bakers,  I know it's been a while, but we're busy at work and then we are looking for a home to buy, so baking has taken a little bit of a back seat lately. But I figured something out that is super easy to make and tastes delicious.

This cake is super easy to make and doesn't even require you to take out a mixer. All you need is a measuring cup, a bowl and the most basic of ingredients...

1 cup rolled oats or instant oats (I used BetterOats, Instant Oatmeal in Cinnamon Spice)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk (I use fat free)
butter (or pam for spraying the pan)

Then you add in what you like, depending on taste:

I added:

1 medium size apple diced
2 tablespoons of Honeyville Apple Cinnamon Whipped Honey (dissolved in the milk).




I tasted Honeyville Honey the first time almost a year ago, while on vacation in Durango, CO. We drove by the store and I just stopped by to check it out, even though I usually don't like honey. Honeyville totally changed that! I bought multiple jars of their "Whipped" honey and I was hooked. I didn't have luggage to check on my flight out to California and stuffed the jars in my carry on, forgetting I couldn't take them in the cabin. But I wouldn't be parted with this little jars of liquid gold so I checked my bag and kept my honey. THANK GOD! Unfortunately you won't be able to find this delicious treats in your grocery store, but you can order Honeyville Honeys on their website at www.HoneyvilleColorado.com or by clicking directly on the logo.

OK, after the little detour and my story about how one taste of Honeyville deliciousness changed my opinion about honey, lets get to making the batter:

Mix the oatmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and if you use unflavored oats add in two tablespoons of cinnamon. Once you mixed that well add in the egg and the milk, stir well so everything is well combined. Add the diced or grated apples and bake in a pre-heated 375F oven for about 40 minutes or until a wooden skewer/toothpick comes out clean.

Cool and enjoy! The cake tastes even better if you wrap it in foil and let it sit in the fridge for 2 days as the aroma gets better!


And the result is this:

Variations: Leave out the apple, add in apricots, cocoa powder chocolate chips, sliced almonds, any kind of nuts. The options are endless!

Grilled Chicken Breats marinated in a Coconut Milk/Jamaican Jerk Marinade

YUMMY is all I can say. I adapted this recipe from it's original and it turned out just fabulous. As we all striving to get in shape for the summer season we're eating a lot lighter for dinner and this is a great variation on your regular, "Bla" Chicken Breast.

Oh and did I tell you it's easy to make. Lately Chicken Breast have been on sale in bulk packages and we eat a lot of it. But it does get boring when it all tastes similar. So I thought this would work well next to a salad instead of in cubes in a salad.

You will need:

2 -3 Chicken Breasts
1/2 cup Coconut Milk
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
Jamaican Jerk Seasoning
Red Pepper Flakes
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Pepper
Salt
Allspice

Put the coconut milk, soy sauce, a generous amount of jerk seasoning, allspice (a few dashes), ground black pepper, red pepper flakes and a little salt in a blender (I like the BULLET) and combine well.

Clean your chicken beast, put them in a clean ziploc bag and pour in the marinade in the bag. Make sure all the chicken is nicely coated and refrigerate for a couple of hours, or better overnight.

When you're ready to use them, fire up your grill or preheat a grill pan and cook the chicken breast until fully cooked (about 7 minutes each side) and serve with a nice side salad.

I sprinkled some almonds on my plate and garnished the salad with some roasted sunflower seeds and sprinkles of parmesan. Use your favorite low fat salad dressing..... And there you have it!

Bon Appetite!

I used:

 
Thai Kitchen Coconut Milk
 
The Magic Bullet
 
Jamie Oliver Knives

Mini Lime/Sour Cream Pound Cake with glazed Limes

This is my first try at this little cake and it looks nice doesn't it.... However it came out a little dry. So I'm going to have to perfect the recipe before I publish it..... maybe throw in some coconut too.....

Lime and Coconut should work well together or what do you think? Let me know!

Semi-Homemade Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake

Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake

Look at this beauty! Super easy to make and nobody will ever know that it's not made from scratch. I wanted to make a quick cake to take to the office and didn't have time to make something from scratch, so I searched through my cupboard and dug out a box of Betty Crocker Devil's Food Cake mix. I used the regular version, but the gluten free one works just as well.


I then proceeded with the instructions on the box, switching out the water for milk, an adding a cup of roasted and ground hazelnuts, as well as about a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Pour your batter in a prepared baking dish, sprinkle with slivered almonds and bake as instructed or until a wooden pick comes out clean. Cool and serve.

Best with a cup of coffee or a glass of milk! Enjoy!

Tip: If you don't have hazelnuts use almond meal, it tastes just as nice.

All the Pretty Horses

Chloe our Haflinger, she's a bit bouncy but still a fun ride. Somtimes we give her a little ponytail in the front, cause she has such a nice mane. And just because she's a bit smaller doesn't mean she doesn't have spunk. If anyone tries to get at her hay, she'll make it know that it;s hers

Isadora "Izzy" is the newest addition to the stable a beautiful Percheron mare. I rode her last Saturday and it was quite nice being on such a big horse. he's still a bit stubborn and getting used to her new home, but she'll be just fine.











And then there is Zeppelin, everyone knows he's my favorite. He gets spoiled with cookies, apples, new blankets and other stuff. He's a very smart cookie!

UPDATE: I told you Zeppelin was a smart horse and now to prove it he managed a little trick. Low and behold he took off his bridle! There I was tying him up to help one of our guests with her horse Captain, I turn around and BAM! Horse on the loose...... My baby stuck his head under the fence, hooked the bridle and pulled it over his ears. After that he had a little fun, stretching his legs, jumping a bit and playing cat and mouse!  I let him enjoy his freedom for a few minutes, then called him and he came right over. Good Boy came back to Mama!

Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Clouds

YUMMY!

I have to work on getting the chocolate glaze to get right, but otherwise delish!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day I made some cute little green Cheesecakes.....

What do you think? Cute? Yes! Yummy? Yes! Green? Definitly!

Grandma's "Black" Cake ~ Added Fiber Version

My childhood memory is filled with times when I helped my Grandma bake this cake. I LOVED IT! It is to this day my absolute favorite Chocolate Cake! If I could I would eat it everyday! It has cocoa, it has coffee, it has chocolate chips, how could you not like it!

Grandma's "Black" Cake

So to make it a bit more healthy I replaced some of the flour with wheat germ. You CANNOT taste the difference. It's still chocolaty, tasty deliciousness!

Here is what you need:

2 eggs separated

100 g butter, soft in pieces

200 g flour

50 g wheat germ

2 tsp baking powder

300 g powdered sugar

5 tbsp cocoa (dark)

2 tbsp ground coffee

125 ml Latte (half strong coffee, half milk)

2 tbsp Rum (if you like)

Start by separating the eggs, reserve the yolks and whip the egg whites until firm and stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Combine the flour, the baking powder and the wheat germ in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl start beating the butter with the egg yolk and the sugar until creamy and soft, then alternating add the latte and the flour mixture in small batches while continuing to mix. Do this until all the flour and latte is used up. Once that is done add the rum, the cocoa powder and the ground coffee, keep stirring until everything is combined well.

Once you have done this you can add in some chocolate chips or slivered almonds for added texture. Then using a spatula fold in the whipped egg whites.

Fill in a prepared loaf pan and bake in a preheated 180 C/ 350F oven for about 45 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

Let Cool and ENJOY!!! 

Sweet Bread with Almond Filling

Recipe coming soon...... but be sure this will taste great with a nice hot cup of coffee from


https://www.1850coffee.com/

And here comes the recipe:

You will need the following for the dough:

300 g flour sifted
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar

60 g butter, soft in small cubes

1 packet of dried yeast (I prefer Red Star)
100 ml milk, lukewarm

1 egg, beaten (keep a little aside to brush the bread before baking)

Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the salt and the sugar and combine well, add the soft butter. Dissolve the yeast in a little bit of milk and let proof for a few minutes. Add the mixture, the rest of the milk and the egg to the flour and stir the ingredients from the middle. Once it all starts coming together and knead the dough until it is very smooth and elastic.

Cover, set it at a warm spot and let rise until it is doubled in volume. Then roll it out into a rectangle to approximate 3 mm thickness.

Filling:

150 g almonds, ground
3 tbsp sugar
1 apple, grated
1/2 lemon, zest and juice
4 - 6 tbsp heavy cream or milk (half and half works too)

**Apricot Preserve

Combine the almond meal and the sugar in a bowl, add the finely grated apple, the lemon zest and lemon juice and combine well. Add the cream and stir until everything is well combined.

Spread the almond mixture evenly over the rolled out dough, leaving only a small edge. Then roll the dough from both sides toward the middle and place in a prepared 13 to 15 inch cake form. Brush with the reserved egg and sprinkle with some slivered almonds.

Let rise again, then bake in a pre-heated 425 F/ 220 C oven for about 35-40 minutes.

ENJOY!

** if you like the tart/sweet flavor of apricot preserve, spread the apricot preserve on the rolled out dough before you spread the filling.

Also if you like you can glaze the baked, still hot bread with a sugar glaze. You'll need 100 g powdered sugar, 1/2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp water. Mix and brush the baked bread with it.

Almond/Nutella Macarons - Gluten Free

Finally.... I took the time and made Macarons.... and I think they turned out great and they are easy to make. Just look at these gorgeous and tasty little things!

Finished Almond Nutella Macarons!

You don't need a lot of fancy tools and crazy ingredients... A mixer, parchment paper, a spatula and a pastry bag with different size tips is all you need. Oh and of course the ingredients and a bit of time.

Almond Nutella Macarons

Here is what you need:

2 egg whites

100 g sugar (superfine)

100 g almond flour

2 sprinkles salt

Nutella for filling

Prepare two baking sheets, by covering them with parchment paper. You can either use a shot glass or any other small round object to mark small circles on the paper or you can just pipe the mixture as you go, keeping them as close to the same size as possible.

Unbaked Macarons

Start by placing you egg white in a mixing bowl and beat them with the salt until they are super stiff and peaks form (you should be able to turn the bowl upside down and nothing will drop out), then beat in half of the sugar, beat until the egg white is very shiny.

Once you have done that, take your spatula and slowly fold in the remaining sugar and the almond flour (to get rid of any clumps in the almond flour, sift it), add in the almond flour a little at a time so you don't get any lumps in it. Fill in a pastry bag and pipe on the prepared baking sheets.

Then let the macarons dry for about 15 minutes, while they dry, preheat your oven to 325F. Once your oven has reached the correct temperature, bake the macarons for about 12 minutes, after the first 5 minutes open the oven door to let out steam.

Macaron Assembly

Take your macarons out of the oven and let them cool, while they cool down, fit your pastry bag with a small tip, or you can just use a plastic zip-loc bag and cut off a tiny bit of the tip, fill it with Nutella and then pipe some Nutella on one macaron, taking another one and twisting it on to make a little sandwich.

Repeat until you've filled them all...... then serve on a nice platter or package and give them to your favorite people. I'm sure they'll love them! Who can resist something that's made with LOVE!

I shall try and make Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls....

These are just regular Cinnamon Rolls, but I think tonight's the night to try and make them Gluten-Free!

Gluten Free Lime'n'Blackberry Cake / Recipe

Like I promised, I made my Lime'n'Blackberry Cake again to make sure the recipe works. And boy did it work, the second time around the cake came out just as nice as the first time and I even left out the Xanthan Gum. I read up on the "Gums" and apparently they make a lot of people feel sick.

So no gums in cakes for me!


Here is what you need for this deliciously moist cake:

2 Limes or 1 big Lemon, finely grated zest and juice
200 g soft unsalted Butter (or unsalted margarine)
200 g fine Sugar
4 large Eggs
200 g Flour Mixture (50 g Oat, 50 g Quinoa, 100 g Rice)
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 container Blackberries (any berries really)
3 Tbsp powdered Sugar
Lemon/Lime juice


In a mixing bowl cream the soft butter until you see it forming little peaks, mix in the sugar, add the lime/lemon zest and juice and then mix in the eggs one by one.

Combine the baking powder with the flour mixture and using a rubber spatula fold it into the butter/egg mixture. Do NOT use a mixer for this, your cake will come out rubbery.

Then place half of the batter into a buttered loaf pan, take the blackberries and add about half of them to the batter. Cover with the remaining batter and then add the rest of the blackberries pushing them into the batter a little.

Place in a pre-heated 350 F oven and bake for 75 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean. Cover the cake with Foil after about 60 minutes so it doesn't get too dark.

Let cake cool slightly. In the meantime, make a glaze with some powdered sugar and lemon/lime juice (it should have a thick syrupy consistency). Poke little holes in the cake and brush with the glaze while still warm. This way, the cake will absorb some of the syrup and that will add to the nice lemony aroma.

Cool completely and ENJOY!

Tip: you can make this cake with any berries you like, or any other small fruit like cherries!

Gluten Free Lime'n'blackberry Cake